Easter Egg Hunt & Tug of War!

The Easter holiday is here...time for Easter egg hunting and...tug of war!?

Yes, that's right! I spent this holiday with a local church at their annual Easter Egg Hunt. My sister and I had a blast! The First Baptist Church of Essex is not our home parish, but they made us feel like it was. They welcomed us with open arms and allowed us to participate in their large event. Thank you to Pastor John, his wife Amber, and LifeSource Magazine's Sharon for hosting us!

I want to also mention that this church is completing a theatre of sorts for their younger parishioners. They built a stadium-seating style theatre for youth events at their church so they could encourage more youth to get involved in their church and to increase the number of services for youth - they want to expand their regular services to include a separate "church for youth"; kind of like Sunday school...they are also working on a youth leadership development program - my kind of thing!

Below you'll find some photos...

I should warn you, I had some pretty mean faces while playing tug of war! I got into the fight!

Have fun this Easter,
Viki

Radio Interview, TV Meeting, etc!

As many of you know, since winning my Miss Baltimore title, I went on a "School Court TV/everything else" hiatus because I wanted to jump right into planning for Miss Maryland in June. Well, let me tell you that things have a way of happening because today was on a roll!


First, I started my day with a radio interview on Heaven 600AM in regards to School Court TV (www.schoolcourt.org), announcing our upcoming May 19th auditions at Marley Station Mall. This quickly led into a discussion about me...and my Miss Baltimore title...and my work with Barbizon. It's funny how things come full circle sometimes. The radio interview will air on Saturday morning on Heaven 600AM - I will try to upload the interview onto the blog for those of you who don't get this station in your area.


Second, after the interview was finished, the amazing radio host decided I should meet the General Manager/Programming Manager of Heaven 600, Mr. Lee Michaels! Well, what an experience that was - he has his own TV show! He promised that if I won Miss Maryland he'd have me on his TV program...either way, I'm getting on that program haha! I'm going to hold him to this... I had witnesses!


Third, I went to a business lunch with my dad and someone who wanted to chat about a partnership with School Court TV. Yes, that's right...someone sought us out! Finally! You know you've made it as a TV/PR exec when people want meetings with you! Anyway, the meeting was about a project someone was doing with local schools and building character, confidence, etc in youth....I KNOW, right? Right up my ally! Did this gentleman know this was my platform? Did he know that I have been trying to get into schools to push my youth development program? Did he know that for years I have been talking about the need to create a curriculum for leadership and self-development for schools? I think not...but I did let him know! While things are in the very basic stages...I would like to say that I will stay involved with this gentleman and this project to hopefully further develop and build this curriculum that will hit 500 schools in the coming year! I think my platform is starting to physically come together! He even has a cartoon show that I may get to do voiceovers for...I could be a character on TV! hah!


So many ideas are running through my head right now! This has been such an exciting day! Not to mention, I officially booked a teaching opportunity in Fairfax for Barbizon's annual Passport to Discovery and this past weekend, while at the USA Ambassador pageant, was recognized (and made official) by Kristin Thurston, the National Director, as the official pageant and self-development speaker at their 2012 National Pageant in Tampa. I will be speaking on "the industry" in general: pageantry, acting, modeling, self-confidence development, personal excellence, and more. Yes, I'm starting a "national speaking tour" of sorts! My platform is coming into fruition...finally....


All in all, when I thought about it...I have been in this "industry" for about 10 years and now things are starting to come together. It has definitely taken some time, but things are finally moving forward. With that, I encourage you to keep working towards your goals. You never know what opportunities are out there. I know sometimes it may be disheartening when you don't achieve your goal right away, but keep pushing! Keep trying! There is a greater plan set out for you...even if you've made the plan yourself, keep pushing. Never give up....dreams really do come true.


I'm using the communication skills and self-confidence that I developed as a student at Barbizon so many years ago to launch my career now. I'm using my time in pageantry to pass on the same confidence/grace/poise/communication skills that I learned from competing to others who may not be able to compete for whatever reason. And I am living my platform, every single day. I am so proud to be involved with youth development - people are my passion! I invite you to find what you're interested in and just go for it!


With your success in mind,
Victory

With the radio show host!

this was in the lobby - receptionist's head cut out of photo haha